Published his book A Brief History of Time in 1988, which has sold more than 10 million copies

His life story was the subject of the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne

Dr Lauren Cadwallader, deputy head of scholarly communications at Cambridge University, said when Prof Hawking was asked whether he wanted to make his PhD available to all he agreed almost immediately.

Dr Cadwallader added she hoped it would be a “great example for academics writing their theses now that maybe in 51 years’ time they’ll be having theirs still read”.

Cambridge University said it now hoped to encourage its other former academics to make their work available to the public, like Prof Hawking has.